In this first stage, the aim is to educate the population and help them adapt to the new transportation system.
Although President Luis Abinader inaugurated the first 4-kilometer section of the Santiago de los Caballeros cable car last Sunday, March 17, this first line, with the capacity to transport 4,000 passengers per hour in each direction, is only operating from Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning, while on weekends and holidays it operates from 4:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon.
From April 1st to 30th, operating hours will be extended from Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am and from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, while on Sundays and holidays, the hours will be from 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Starting May 1st, the hours will be from Monday to Friday from 6:00 am to 10:30 pm, Saturdays from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm, and Sundays and holidays from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm, according to the schedule announced on opening day.
Julio Ramírez, head of the cable car system department, explained that the measure is due to the fact that they are educating the population so that they can adapt to the use of the system.
“The schedule was chosen gradually, starting with a few hours, then increasing the hours as people get used to it. It’s a way to better accommodate the user,” the manager told Listín Diario.
Ramírez explained that the stopping of the train cars and the slowness of the system, which has worried some users, is due to the elderly and disabled people who have attended the tours.
“If a person in a wheelchair, someone with a cane, or a blind person comes along, the speed is adjusted, and all that kind of thing is a normal part of this user education process, and that's why it usually happens,” he said.
The executive emphasized that the presence of workers in different areas of the cable car system is due to ongoing maintenance. However, he stated that testing is complete and they are now simply making adjustments.
He said that users are excited about the cable car and that attendance during these first six hours of operation has been 4,000 people.
The stations
This first section of the system comprises four kilometers, from the La Yagüita del Pastor sector to the Las Carreras central terminal in Pueblo Nuevo, with four stations: T1: Central Station, E2: Emiliano Tardif, E3: René Klang de Guzmán, and E4: Yolanda Santana.
The cable car will transport 12 people per cabin; ten seated and two standing, with a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour, on a four-kilometer route through nine popular sectors.
President Luis Abinader inaugurated the first stage of the project on Sunday, March 17th. The project, which is being built with an investment exceeding RD$6.543 billion, will directly impact approximately 73,968 inhabitants.
The Santiago cable car is part of the Santiago Integrated Transport System (SIT-Stgo), an initiative created by the Executive Branch for the physical, technological and fare integration of different means of public transport, with the aim of contributing to improving the quality of life of the city's inhabitants, and developing sustainable mobility alternatives.
It is a cable transport system, made up of 129 cabins with detachable clamps, with the capacity to transport 4,000 passengers per hour in each direction, for a total of 8,000 people per hour, and a daily transport capacity of 64,000 people.
